Moni the Goat-Boy Page 5

  CHAPTER V

  MONI SINGS AGAIN

  Paula had given orders to be wakened early the next morning, for shewanted to be on the spot when the goat-boy came. She was anxious to dealwith him herself. That evening she had held a long conversation with thelandlord, and had then come out of his room quite happy; so she musthave planned something delightful with him.

  When the goat-boy came along with his flock in the morning, Paula wasalready standing in front of the house, and she called out:

  "Moni, can't you sing even now?"

  He shook his head. "No, I can't. I am always wondering how muchlonger Maeggerli will go with me. I never can sing any more as long asI live, and here is the cross." Whereupon he handed her a littlepackage, for the grandmother had wrapped it carefully for him inthree or four papers.

  Paula took out the cross from the wrappings and examined it closely. Itreally was her beautiful cross with the sparkling stones, and quiteunharmed. "Well, Moni," she said now very kindly, "you have given me agreat pleasure, for if it had not been for you, I might never have seenmy cross again. Now, I am going to give you a pleasure. Go take Maeggerlithere out of the shed, she belongs to you now!"

  Moni stared at the young lady in astonishment, as if it were impossibleto understand her words. At last he stammered: "But how--how canMaeggerli be mine?"

  "How?" replied Paula, smiling. "See, last evening I bought her fromthe landlord and this morning I give her to you. Now can't you singonce more?"

  "Oh! Oh! Oh!" exclaimed Moni and ran like mad to the shed, led thelittle goat out, and took it in his arms. Then he leaped back and heldout his hand to Paula and said over and over again:

  "I thank you a thousand, thousand times! May God reward you! If I coulddo something nice for you!"

  "Well, then try once more and let us see if you can sing again!"said Paula.

  Then Moni sang his song and went on up the mountain with the goats, andhis jubilant tones rang down into the valley, so that there was no onein the whole Bath House who did not hear it and many an one turned overin his bed and said: "The goat-boy has good weather once more."

  All were glad to hear him sing again, for all had depended on the merryalarm, some in order to get up, others to sleep a while longer.

  When Moni, from the first summit, saw Paula still standing below infront of the house, he stepped as far out as possible and sang downat the top of his voice:

  "And so blue is the sky there My joy can't be told."

  The whole day long Moni shouted for joy, and all the goats caught hisspirit and jumped and sprang around as if it were a great festival. Thesun shone cheerfully down out of the blue sky, and after the great rain,all the little plants were so fresh, and the yellow and red flowers sobright, it seemed to Moni as if he had never seen the mountains and thevalley and the whole world so beautiful before. He didn't let the littlekid leave him the whole day; he pulled up the best plants for it and fedit, and said over and over again:

  "Maeggerli, you dear Maeggerli, you do not have to die. You are now mineand will come up to the pasture with me as long as we live." And withresounding singing and yodeling Moni came down again at evening andafter he had led the black goat to her shed, he took the little kid inhis arms, for it was now coming home with him. Maeggerli did not look asif it would rather stay there, but pressed close to Moni and felt thatit was under the best protection, for Moni had for a long time treatedit better and more kindly than its own mother.

  But when Moni came near his grandmother's with Maeggerli on hisshoulders, she didn't know at all what to make of it, and although Monicalled from a distance:

  "She belongs to me, Grandmother, she belongs to me!" she didn'tunderstand for some time what he meant. But Moni couldn't explain toher yet; he ran to the shed, and there right next to Brownie, so thatit wouldn't be afraid, he made Maeggerli a fine, soft bed of fresh straw,and laid it down, saying:

  "There, Maeggerli, now sleep well in your new home! You must always havethis; every day I will make you a new bed!"

  Then Moni came back directly to his wondering grandmother, and whilethey sat together at their supper, he told her the whole story from thevery beginning about his three days so full of trouble, and the happyending to-day.

  The grandmother listened very quietly and attentively and when he cameto the end, she said earnestly:

  "Moni, you must remember what has happened to you now, as long as youlive! While you were having so great trouble with wrong-doing in orderto help the little creature, the dear Lord had already found a way tohelp it and make you happy as soon as you would do what was right in Hissight. If you had done right at once, and trusted in God, all would havegone well at first. Now the dear Lord has helped you beyond all youdeserved, so that you will not forget it your whole life long."

  "No, I will surely never forget it," said Moni, eagerly assenting, "andwill always truly think, the first thing: I must only do what is rightbefore the dear Lord. He will take care of all the rest."

  But before Moni could lie down to sleep, he had to look into the shedonce more, to see if it were really possible that the little kid waslying out there and belonged to him.

  Joergli received the ten francs according to the agreement, but he wasnot allowed to escape from the affair so easily as that. When hereturned to the Bath House, he was brought to the landlord who took theboy by the collar, gave him a good shaking, and said threateningly:

  "Joergli! Joergli! Don't you try a second time to bring my whole houseinto bad repute! If anything like this happens a single time again, youwill come out of my house in a way that will not please you! See, upthere hangs a very sharp willow rod for such cases. Now go and thinkthis over."

  Moreover, the event had other consequences for the boy. From this timeon, if anything was lost anywhere in the Bath House, all the servantsimmediately exclaimed: "Joergli from Kueblis has it!" and if he cameafterwards into the house they all pounced on him together and cried:"Give it here, Joergli! Out with it!" And if he assured them he hadnothing and knew nothing about it, they would all exclaim: "We knowyou already!" and "You can't fool us!"

  So Joergli had to endure the most menacing attacks continually, and hadhardly a moment's peace any more, for if he saw any one approaching him,he at once thought he was coming to ask if he had found this or that.So Joergli was not at all happy; and a hundred times he thought: "If onlyI had given back that cross immediately! I will never in my whole lifekeep anything else that doesn't belong to me."

  But Moni never ceased singing and yodeling, the whole summer long, forthere was hardly another human being in the world as happy as he was upthere with his goats. Often, however, when he lay stretched out in hiscontentment on the Pulpit-rock, and gazed down into the sunny valleybelow, he had to think how he had sat that time with the heavy burden onhis heart, under the Rain-rock, and all happiness was gone; and he wouldsay again and again in his heart: "I know now what I will do, so that itwill never happen again: I will do nothing that will prevent me fromlooking up gladly to heaven, because this is right to the dear Lord."

  But if it chanced that Moni became too long absorbed in his meditation,one or another of the goats would come along, gaze wonderingly at himand try to attract his attention by bleating, which oftentimes he didnot hear for quite a while. Only when Maeggerli came and called after himlongingly, then he heard at once and came leaping to it immediately, forhis affectionate little kid always remained Moni's dearest possession.

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